Demarius Reed's killer: 'He fell to the ground and I shot him'

The man who fired the two shots that killed Eastern Michigan University wide receiver Demarius Reed last fall went into disturbing detail when he testified Thursday against 20-year-old Ed Thomas in the Washtenaw County Trial Court.

The prosecution rested after a second day of testimony in the murder trial, which included the triggerman, 20-year-old Kristopher Pratt. The jury will hear closing arguments Monday, after which they will begin deliberating.

Pratt matter-of-factly recounted how he followed Reed into his University Green apartment building Oct. 18 and shot him in the side and then in the face while Thomas snatched Reed's iPhone and wallet, both of which were ditched soon afterward.

"...He fell to the ground and I shot him," Pratt said. "I seen Demarius shaking so I shot him in the head."

When asked why he shot Reed in the face after they had robbed him, Pratt replied, "To take him out of (his) pain."

Later testimony by Washtenaw County Medical Examiner Bader Cassin indicated that the lethal shot was the round to the chest.

On cross-examination, Assistant Washtenaw County Public Defender Lorne Brown questioned whether Thomas was really the one who suggested they rob Reed. He also made Pratt go into blow-by-blow detail of the night.

Pratt and Thomas drove out to Ypsilanti from Detroit to attend a party at the Papi O's night club around 12:35 a.m. Oct. 18, but when they arrived, no one was being let in the club so they hung out in the parking lot with their friends Demarco Taylor and Kenneth Green, Pratt testified.

An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms testified that the usage on Thomas' cell phone puts him in Ypsilanti at this time, too.

At some point, Taylor was informed either by text or Instagram of an after party, or afterglow, at the University Green apartments, located in the 700 block of Green Road of Ypsilanti.

The four men went to the party, but didn't stay long because there weren't many women there, Pratt said.

"People was chilling, kicked back, smoking and drinking. There was a whole bunch of dudes," he said, adding that he too was smoking and drinking that night.

The four men were getting into the Impala in the parking lot when they saw Reed headed toward the door to his apartment building. Pratt said he caught the door behind Reed, followed him onto the landing by the stairs, grabbed him and showed him the gun.

Reed fought back, though. He hit Pratt and tried running up the stairs. Pratt said Thomas hadn't immediately followed Reed in with him, but arrived shortly afterward.

Thomas hit Reed, who fell to the ground, which is when Pratt shot him in the side, Pratt testified. Thomas then reached into Reed's pocket and took his phone and a black wallet, according to his testimony.

The two men fled, hopping into the Impala with Taylor and Green. Pratt said no one talked about the shooting as they drove off. Pratt and Thomas went back first to Taylor's Ypsilanti apartment before heading back to Detroit, according to testimony.

Pratt said he was never in possession of the phone or wallet, which Thomas told him was empty, so Pratt told him to toss it, which he assumed Thomas did.

Brown questioned Pratt's motivation for testifying, making it clear to the jury that Pratt was getting a reduced prison sentence. Brown asked Pratt about all the hardships of being in prison, including not being able to eat what he wanted, see people when he wanted or be around women.

Pratt could have served life in prison, but could serve as little as 18 years thanks to his testimony, Brown pointed out.

On Nov. 2, just a few weeks after the Reed shooting, Pratt used the same gun in an armed robbery at Eastland Mall. Pratt said he shot in the air while trying to rob a man of new Air Jordans. Pratt testified he purchased the gun for $400 despite the fact he doesn't have a job.

Harper Woods police investigators were called to the stand Thursday to testify about how they quickly developed Pratt as a suspect and discovered he was on probation. The investigators set-up a meeting between Pratt and his probation officer on Nov. 5 in Detroit, at which time he was arrested and his gun was found on the floor in his grandmother's Cadillac.

The next day, police executed a search warrant a the grandmother's home on Chatsworth Street in Detroit, where Pratt was living. Police testified that Thomas was at the house when police arrived and was so unruly that police arrested him for obstructing an investigation.

Harper Woods police Detective James Ruthenberg testified that Thomas slammed the door when officers tried coming in with the warrant and repeatedly refused to comply with orders to sit down.

"He was yelling, not listening to orders. He refused to listen. He refused to sit on the couch. He tried to pull away. He was muscled to the couch and handcuffed," Ruthenberg said.

Thomas was not yet a suspect in Reed's murder, but he would be after Pratt was identified. Thomas attempted to hide and very likely had a gun on him when a search warrant was executed in the 4300 block of Euclid Street in Detroit at a house where Thomas was staying on Nov. 21, Ypsilanti police Sgt. Joe Yuhas testified.

Thomas was coming down the stairs when officers came in, then attempted to run upstairs to hide in a back bedroom, Yuhas testified. A gun was found hidden in the room.

“It was stuffed in a flowerpot. The gun was stuffed in the soil,” Yuhas said.

The jury also heard from a Michigan State Police firearm expert who couldn't definitively say the two bullets pulled from Reed match Pratt's gun -- because it's never possible to make a 100 percent match -- but that there was evidence to suggest that they did.

Brown did not want to call any witnesses after Assistant Washtenaw County Prosecutor Nimish Ganatra rested his case.

Now, after hearing from 20-plus witnesses, the jury will have to decide if Thomas is guilty of both murder and armed robbery.

Carl Reed, Demarius' father, said he was encouraged after a day and a half of testimony, especially after the jury heard from Pratt Thursday.

"I think it went well. I feel good about where we are," he said in the hallway of the courthouse after Thursday's proceedings. "(Pratt's testimony) gives the jury enough to make the right decision."

John Counts covers crime and breaking news for The Ann Arbor News. He can be reached at johncounts@mlive.com or you can follow him on Twitter. Find all Washtenaw County crime stories here.